Amanda Benson oral history interview, June 29, 2018

Amanda Benson is the Sensory Panel Coordinator at Deschutes Brewing. In her interview, Benson talks about growing up in rural Eastern Oregon (Mitchell), her interest in sports, and her school environment. Benson was part of the second graduating class in OSU’s Fermentation Science program, and she talks about her classes, classmates, and program, as well as her memories of the OSU campus and Corvallis. After graduation, Benson did an internship at Cascade Lakes Brewing Company in Redmond, Oregon, and she talks about how that hands-on experience differed from what she’d learned in the classroom. She talks about starting at Deschutes as a brewer in 2001, her switch to sensory analysis in 2006, and how an increased focus on sensory has impacted her personal experience as a beer consumer. She talks about her experiences within the brewing community, her participation in professional organizations, and what she sees as important company milestones. 

The interview was conducted by Tiah Edmunson-Morton and Anna Dvorak on June 29, 2018 at the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. It is a component of the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives Oral History Collection (OH 35), Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries.